Ucapan mewakili Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM) dalam Persidangan Meja Bulat Pelan Tindakan - Keadilan dan Keamanan untuk Palestin 4 Jun 2010 di Kelab Sultan Sulaiman, Kuala Lumpur
Ucapan ceramah Kota Tinggi, 5 April 2010
Ucapan di Felda Air Tawar 23 Okt 2009 - Antara Chin Peng dan Henry Gurney
have been doing the research on parking related matters and local council in Selangor past week. Like many Malaysians, we tend to be forgetful after 3 months and after a year, the facts will get all jumbled up that many would have forgotten the head and tail on many issues. One such issue is the Local Authority (LA) car parking business in Selangor which I believe was engineered during Khir Toyo time where all LA parking in Selangor was streamline and spread over two companies.
ReplyDeleteTHE privatisation of parking services in Selangor was formalised sometime in Q2 or Q3, 1999, when the state government decided that the move would bring about a uniformed system to parking in the state which would benefit the local authorities. Legally speaking the state gave the directives and the local authority inked either a 20 or 25 years parking agreement with two companies i.e. Swastapark Sdn Bhd (later renamed as Godell Parking Sdn Bhd) and Suasa Efektif Sdn Bhd. Selangor parking territories are shared between this two entities.
Godell Parking was given the concession for PJ, Subang Jaya, Sabak Bernam, Hulu Selangor and Kuala Langat for 20+5 years and Suasa Effektif was given Shah Alam, Kelang, Ampang, Selayang, Kajang, Sepang and Kuala Selangor for 25 years. I remembered when KT announces the appointment of these companies, there was some noise in the background on the lack of transparency in view of direct negotiation between both parties. For that matter, the noise stayed in the background and is silenced by other matters.
Back then the idea to form a uniform parking arrangement was made on the basis of cosmetics and disguise in the form to improve the revenue collection to the local authorities. There was no tender. There was no open selection. There was no pre announce news. There was only announcement on how Selangor Parking is to be shared between the two parties.
Questions begin to surface on wether the 70/30 contract favouring the concessionaire are indeed fair and works in favour or the local authorities. In Ampang Jaya for example, Suasa Effective apparently owed close to RM 800K in parking rental to MPAJ. The same thing happens in Selayang where the amount is said to be about RM900K.
In MPAJ, the management practice a contra mechanism where concession collection is contra with the fines issued by MPAJ. The problem here is one of accounting and liquidity. Payment should not have been in contra especially when there issued fines are documented but the collection amount is not the same as the amount issued. While the agreement says that the concessionaire is suppose to pay MPAJ once a month, this is not being done.
The LA does not act in accordance of the provision of the contract. They appear to be weak in implementing the powers given to them in the contract. What is still not clear is how the 70/30 formula is derived and how does the local authority know how much is being collected. It is also not clear on WHY the LA did not terminate the agreement despite non payment by the concessionaire. Not surprising, the LA is taken for a ride and the weak management and the local councillor’s fails in their fiduciary duties in ensuring that the revenue of the LA is maximized. I believe it is time for the State Government to revisit this matter and find ways to maximize the profit for the local authorities. I hope the new batch of councillors in Ampang will do a better job in promoting transparency and maximizing revenue for the LA.